'Accident' in hotel bed leads to $1,700 dispute

Friday

Jun 29, 2007 at 12:01 AMJun 29, 2007 at 3:21 PM

A Telluride hotel is taking a woman to court for nearly $1,700, claiming that her son virtually destroyed a hotel room. The hotel manager said they had to throw out a mattress, box spring and sheets, had to have the carpet cleaned and had to let the room air out for two nights, un-rented. All because her 22-year-old son wet the bed.

Reilly Capps

Connie Carpendale is upset.

A Telluride hotel is taking her to court for nearly $1,700, claiming that her son virtually destroyed a hotel room. The hotel manager said they had to throw out a mattress, box spring and sheets, had to have the carpet cleaned and had to let the room air out for two nights, un-rented.

All because her son wet the bed.

“I know he did have an accident in there," Carpendale said. “But this is too much.”

She put down her credit card as a deposit when her son rented a room at the Victorian Inn on June 1. Her son, she says, has a medical problem called nocturnal enuresis, or night bed-wetting. On that night, her son admittedly micurated on the mattress.

He is 22 years old.

But to her, a $1,700 bill for the accident seems excessive.

“How thick is a mattress?” she said. “A human bladder can’t destroy that — and a box spring and the carpet.”

Oh, yes it can, said the owner and manager of the hotel.

“This bed’s getting thrown away,” said Levi Silva, the manager of the hotel. “I’m talking, it went into the mattress, into the box spring, on the carpet.”

What’s worse, Silva said, was that Carpendale’s son, Jonathan, checked out of the hotel without telling the front desk he’d had an accident. The hotel staff went to change the sheets, and a member of the staff ended up getting a handful of urine. Silva thinks Jonathan should have said something.

“This is a 22-year-old man,” Silva said. “This is not an 11-year-old kid. Be an adult. You’re on private property, come to the front desk.”

Here’s how much your urine can cost you, according to the Victorian Inn:

- New bed set from Montrose: $638.

- Bed set delivery: $100.

- Pickup fee for the old mattress and box spring: $40.

- Carpet cleaning: $150.

- Room left empty for two nights while the carpet was cleaned and dried of the carpet: $231.

- Total: $1,159 for one whiz.

In his court filing, Silva added $500 to compensate him for the time he took dealing with the problem. He also added about $40 worth of costs to file the lawsuit.

So that brings the total to $1,670.

Silva and hotel owner Bob Robbins said they would settle for $1,159 or so, the amount they say is the actual damage caused by the pee.

Carpendale, on the other hand, said she would only be willing to pay $150 to $200 for what she said are reasonable cleaning costs.

If the two sides don’t come to some agreement, the case will go before a judge in county civil court sometime in mid-July.

A compromise may not be likely, as the parties can’t seem to agree on anything. Both accuse the other side of lying and hiding the truth.

For example, the cause of the leak. Carpendale swears her son has a medical condition, while Silva swears he found beer cans in the room, a sign that the young man was drunk.

And, the hotel says, if the young Carpendale has a medical condition, shouldn’t he take care of it himself?

“He needs to travel with diapers,” Silva said.

The owner concurs.

“You buy Depends or something like that,” Robbins said.

On the other hand. If they’re running a hotel, Connie Carpendale said, shouldn’t they be prepared for random happenings?

“It’s the cost of doing business,” Carpendale said.

Silva and Robbins admit that there have been other indiscretions in the 25 years Robbins has owned the hotel. For example, a few weeks ago, an elderly woman who couldn’t quite make it to the john.

But Carpendale’s urine was excessive, they said. “That smell will always be there,” Silva said.

Which side will come out smelling like roses? Which side will end up all wet? Perhaps only a judge can decide.